33 U.S. Code § 1321b - Improved coordination with tribal governments

Within 6 months after October 15, 2010, the Secretary of the Department in which the Coast Guard is operating shall complete the development of a tribal consultation policy, which recognizes and protects to the maximum extent practicable tribal treaty rights and trust assets in order to improve the Coast Guard’s consultation and coordination with the tribal governments of federally recognized Indian tribes with respect to oil spill prevention, preparedness, response and natural resource damage assessment.

(b) Inclusion of tribal government

The Secretary of the Department in which the Coast Guard is operating shall ensure that, as soon as practicable after identifying an oil spill that is likely to have a significant impact on natural or cultural resources owned or directly utilized by a federally recognized Indian tribe, the Coast Guard will—

(1)ensure that representatives of the tribal government of the affected tribes are included as part of the incident command system established by the Coast Guard to respond to the spill;

(2)share information about the oil spill with the tribal government of the affected tribe; and

(3)to the extent practicable, involve tribal governments in deciding how to respond to the spill.

(c) Cooperative arrangements

The Coast Guard may enter into memoranda of agreement and associated protocols with Indian tribal governments in order to establish cooperative arrangements for oil pollution prevention, preparedness, and response. Such memoranda may be entered into prior to the development of the tribal consultation and coordination policy to provide Indian tribes grant and contract assistance. Such memoranda of agreement and associated protocols with Indian tribal governments may include—

(1)arrangements for the assistance of the tribal government to participate in the development of the National Contingency Plan and local Area Contingency Plans to the extent they affect tribal lands, cultural and natural resources;

(2)arrangements for the assistance of the tribal government to develop the capacity to implement the National Contingency Plan and local Area Contingency Plans to the extent they affect tribal lands, cultural and natural resources;

(3)provisions on coordination in the event of a spill, including agreements that representatives of the tribal government will be included as part of the regional response team co-chaired by the Coast Guard and the Environmental Protection Agency to establish policies for responding to oil spills;

(4)arrangements for the Coast Guard to provide training of tribal incident commanders and spill responders for oil spill preparedness and response;

(5)demonstration projects to assist tribal governments in building the capacity to protect tribal treaty rights and trust assets from oil spills; and

Subject to the availability of appropriations, the Commandant of the Coast Guard shall provide assistance to participating tribal governments in order to facilitate the implementation of cooperative arrangements under subsection (c) and ensure the participation of tribal governments in such arrangements. There are authorized to be appropriated to the Commandant $500,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 through 2014 to be used to carry out this section.